Datsun 280-ZX Turbo

Third place: De Lorean Versus the World.

The 911SC's standard interior is finished in leather and its seats are built by Recaro, which tells you why it ranks near the top of the list in accommodations. The driving position is high, the outward visibility is virtually unobscured, and the instrumentation is terrific. Once again, Porsche has made its very nice yearly improvements to the once-vague shifter. The brakes are still among the very best in the world, and Germany continues to build the most solid, best-finished car in this group. Like the Ferrari, the 911SC is a whale of a deal if you can afford it.

After the De Lorean, the 280-ZX Turbo is the second most illustrious newcomer on the block. Moreover, we have for you here the first Datsun Turbo five-speed to escape Nissan's prototype shop. This Borg-Warner-built transmission will be an option by the time you read this, and brings with it a number of chassis beefings, some of which Datsun hopes to introduce on regular 280-ZXs and Turbo automatics.

Each five-speed car will be fitted with a modified rear suspension with re-angled lower control arms and relocated pickup points; a modified differential mounting, which alters the deflection-steer characteristics of the rear cross-member for less wigwag in corners; stronger constant-velocity universal joints; spring rates increased 12 percent over the 1981 Turbo's; and shock-absorber rebound control bumped up by 8 percent. Anti-sway-bar sizes remain the same.

Our prototype had most of the new chassis pieces, and the change in ride characteristics was less than desirable. The car was prone to crash, bang, and bound over bumps the Porsche and the Ferrari took little notice of, and that tendency was mixed with a distinct lack of fade resistance on the part of the brakes to make for some truly eye-opening moments at high speeds. The five-speed is more than happy to take you right up there, albeit a little more slowly to 60 mph than the automatic, but it has a stubborn tendency to hang up on two-three upshifts.

Inside, if you like accessories and plush accommodations, all is well in the 280-ZX Turbo. The seating and steering-wheel positions are the best of the five cars, and the multitudinous controls and adjustments are just as well done. The most important addition to the Datsun's comparatively mundane, if practical, exterior is a dashing set of quadrangularly bladed alloy wheels. Except for these whirling eye-catchers, the Turbo's long suit may be its stealthy ability to blend easily with the madding crowd when faced with police power, something none of our other sports/GT aspirants can do worth ducky dung.

Your basic Corvette is about as old as the basic Porsche, and in no way as up to date in execution as the charismatic De Lorean. The Corvette huffs and chuffs with cubic inches and preens in a new thirteen-step paint process that adds an overcoat of clear to make its metallic base last longer and shine brighter. But the plastic Chevy's physical persona remains the same: a caricature in fiberglass that looks racy as hell and fits together like something laid up by Prof. Irwin Corey. The new paint process, introduced when Corvette production was moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, seems to fill in some of the warp and woof formerly associated with Chevrolet's heavy-hitter. Perhaps the introduction of the long-awaited '83 Corvette will see an across-the-board improvement.

The best part of the current Vette is its effortless low-rpm responsiveness to the throttle. A brush of the pedal in almost any gear causes gaps to open behind the car. Unlike all the others (except perhaps the Porsche, to a lesser extent), the Corvette's transmission is almost superfluous in traffic. Likewise, its massive-section Goodyears exert a rousing influence over smooth pavement, sturdy braking gets forward motion arrested instead of you, and grudging understeer quiets your beating heart when you go ramming into corners.